Electro-mechanical solenoid actuators (or solenoids) are well known in the art for providing linear mechanical motion in response to an electrical power input. A solenoid actuator typically includes a moveable magnetic armature (also called a core element, plunger or slider element) which is positioned within a bore of a wire coil. The coil is selectively energized with an electrical current to create a magnetic field, which in turn exerts an electro-magnetic force to move the armature in a first direction within the bore. Return movement of the armature may be energized by a return spring, by reversing the direction of current flowing through the wire coil, or by selectively energizing a second wire coil.
Solenoids are used in many applications, for example, for mechanically actuating electric door locks, fluid flow control valves, circuit interrupters, printer heads, automatic player pianos, automobile starters, and cameras, to name just a few. Solenoids are generally relatively large devices designed to produce a relatively large amount of mechanical force, and they are typically attached by screws or bolts to a support structure is adjacent to the mechanical device that the solenoid is intended to actuate, and that is separate and spaced apart from the controller for the solenoid and the driver circuits controlling the operation of the solenoid